Shen Zhanglin discussed it with his wife. As they came to a decision, he looked at her and said, “Go talk to Tangtang and ask for her opinion. Ask her to get ready.”
Mrs. Lee, the matchmaker, beamed like a sunflower. The boy’s family had already agreed to pay her 2,000 yuan for her hard work as long as the girl agreed to meet them. Who would not be elated for getting 2,000 yuan just from talking?
Du Juan went to look for Shen Tang and asked for her opinion before replying to the matchmaker. Shen Tang was not at home and had gone to her friend Wen Wen’s florist. Du Juan told her daughter about the blind date and urged her to come home to get ready.
Shen Tang hung up the phone and said, “Wen Wen, I’m going home first.”
Wen Wen was her only friend who she had known since childhood and never cared that she was blind.
Looking at Shen Tang, Wen Wen sighed and said, “Your parents arranged another blind date for you? If you don’t wanna go, just tell them. You don’t have to listen to everything they say! When will you ever learn to refuse them?”
Shen Tang smiled gently. “It’s okay. It’s just a meeting. It’s not like they’re forcing us to be together.”
She knew that her parents were just worried for her and wanted to find her a good family and a good person to rely on. If she refused them, they would feel sad.
“Okay, I can’t say anything if you’re willing.” Wen Wen handed her a bouquet. “Take this back with you.”
After she said that, someone pushed the door open and entered the shop. It was a group of boys.
The leader looked around and said, “I want a bouquet of perfumed lilies. Wrap it up nicely and make it look expensive!”
Someone next to him laughed and teased him. “What’s the use of making it look nice? Isn’t the woman that your cousin’s seeing blind?”
“Yeah, what does your cousin even see in her? A blind girl won’t even be of any help and will only bring trouble!”
“What do you think he sees in her? Obviously, she’s pretty. You guys haven’t seen her pictures. She’s so beautiful, and my cousin only likes beautiful women.”
“Your cousin will be a famous director in the future. There are so many female movie stars in the entertainment industry and so many female college students in the film school. Which one of them isn’t beautiful? When your cousin becomes famous, I’m afraid they’ll flock to him first!”
Shen Tang was at the back of the flower shop and was blocked by the flower stand. Her back was facing them, so no one saw her.
As soon as Wen Wen heard their conversation, she knew that the cousin the boys were talking about was the one who was going on a blind date with Shen Tang. Thus, she pretended to ask inadvertently, “There are so many beautiful women in film school, so your cousin must’ve had many girlfriends!”
“Well, of course! He’s quite popular in school, but he’s tired of playing around.”
“Right… he’s been with all sorts of girls and is ready to find a good wife to settle down and have kids, so he wants a beautiful and virtuous girl. Those b*tches are just playmates.”
“Haha! Keeping a marriage intact while having affairs is the way of a real man, right boys?”
Men were not the same as women. They liked to talk about the women they had been with to blatantly show off to each other so that they could get the envious praises from more scumbags and boost their sickening ego.
“What are you guys talking about? My cousin isn’t like that!” The boy gave his friends a look of warning and looked at Wen Wen with a smile. “They’re just joking. My cousin’s an honest man and he’s extraordinarily nice. He never had a girlfriend either.”
‘That blind girl lived in this town, so what if word got out to her family and ruined Cousin’s date?’
Wen Wen wrapped the flowers and gave them to the boy. After watching them leave, she could still hear them talking, not about the cousin but about the types of women they had slept with and so on. She just felt disgusted after hearing that.
She changed her door sign to “closed” and locked the door before she said, “Tangtang, you heard that, right? Do you still insist on going on a blind date with that *sshole?”
These people were so rude and did not know how to respect women. They kept calling Tangtang “blind girl” in a demeaning tone.
“It’s not like I have to date him after we meet.” Shen Tang did not care much about it and comforted Wen Wen. “Don’t get mad… I am a blind girl, so are people not allowed to call me that?”
“You…” Wen Wen was exasperated and said indignantly, “That cousin and his friends are all the same. Birds of the same feather flock together, so we know that he certainly won’t be a good person. You can meet him, but don’t give him your contact information.”
‘This girl is just too sweet for her own good and never refused anyone. I need to talk to her properly so that she won’t be taken advantage of. Meeting that kind of man is simply an insult to her!’
“I know.” Shen Tang smiled. “Although I’m visually impaired, my heart isn’t blind.”
Wen Wen watched Shen Tang get up with the flowers, then ran over and took out two more red packets and stuffed them into Shen Tang’s hands. “These are for Xixi and Feng. Did they forget about me? They didn’t even come over to wish me a Happy New Year…”
“They were still in bed when I came over.” Shen Tang smiled and said, “Thanks for the red packets. I’ll give it to them when I get back and get them to come over to greet you in person.”
Wen Wen said, “Forget it. They’re probably still sleeping, so don’t yell at them. I still have to go over to your house to pay my respects to Auntie and Uncle. I’ll go over for lunch later!”
Shen Tang nodded and said warmly, “Alright then.”
Wen Wen watched Shen Tang leave and turn the corner before she sighed and turned back into her store to organize some things.
Shen Tang held the vase in one hand and her white cane in another. The route home was somewhere she was very familiar with because she frequently took this road.
When she arrived at the intersection, someone threw a stone that her cane could not detect, so she tripped and could not stop her fall to the front.
She subconsciously protected the vase and was prepared for the fall.
However, the pain she expected did not occur. Instead, a pair of strong arms held her waist. She had fallen into a man’s arms and her head hit his chest.
Shen Tang heard a low, muffled grunt and his somewhat chaotic heartbeat. She quickly stood upright before she said nervously and helplessly, “Thank you…”
Yu Qiubai gentlemanly took a step back and looked at the girl in front of him. “Are you hurt?”
Shen Tang tilted her head toward his voice with an apologetic and grateful smile on her face. Her smile was so pretty and warm that it moved his heart.
Her eyes were beautiful, with crystal clear amber irises, but there was no focus. Yu Qiubai felt an indescribable sympathy for the girl who could not see.